1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to receptacles and is particularly directed to receptacles, such as ash trays, for use in vehicles, such as aircraft, buses and the like.
2. Prior Art
People have been smoking cigarettes and the like for about two hundred years, whereas the development of vehicles, such as motor buses and airplanes has occurred only within this century. Consequently, it has been necessary or desireable to provide ash trays in such vehicles, especially in commercial vehicles which are designed to carry large numbers of people. Fortunately, due to increased recognition of the health hazards involved in smoking, most people have now given up this habit. However, the number of people who continue to smoke is still significant. Therefore, means must still be provided for disposal of hot ashes and butts resulting from such use.
It has been found convenient to mount vehicle ash trays within the armrests of the vehicle seats. However, this location is not without complication, since it is also desirable to provide upholstered and padded armrests which can present serious fire hazards. In view of this, it has become a federal requirement, at least on commercial vehicles, that a fireproof or highly fire resistant "fire box" be provided in the armrest about the area where the ash tray is to be mounted. This "fire box" is covered by a metal escutcheon which serves to suspend the ash tray spaced from the walls of the "fire box" for safety purposes and also serves a decorative function. Since the capacity of such ash trays is necessarily limited and since the number of potential users on commercial vehicles is extremely large, it is customary for cleaning personnel to frequently remove and empty the ash trays. Therefore, it is customary to design the ash trays to be removeably mounted in an opening in the escutcheon and to provide a resilient detent on the escutcheon adjacent the opening and to form the ash trays with a recess to mate with this detent to resiliently retain the ash trays in position. Unfortunately, for durability, it is necessary to form the escutcheon of metal which is relatively hard and brittle. Consequently, with repeated removal and remounting of the ash trays, these detents often become broken or bent out of useful positions or lose their resiliency and allow the ash trays to merely sit loosely in the opening of the escutcheon. However, the armrests are frequently pivoted to permit folding them out of the way between adjacent seats and, if the ash trays are not securely retained, they are liable to drop out of the escutcheon, when the armrest is raised, and may dump their contents on the floor, the next seat or on a passenger sitting in that seat. This obviously, presents serious risk of fire hazard and injury.
Several prior art attempts have been made to overcome this problem. Thus, where the escutcheon detent has become weakened or useless, one solution has been to provide a U-shaped member, formed of spring steel, having a crosspiece which could be riveted or otherwise secured to the ash tray adjacent the detent mating recess and having a pair of arms extending upwardly and outwardly to engage the escutcheon and resiliently retain the ash tray in the desired location. Unfortunately, where the escutcheon detent is still partially or completely present, it often becomes jammed against the crosspiece of such a U-shaped member and prevents all subsequent attempts at removal of the ash tray. Thus, none of the prior art attempts to solve the problem of bent or damaged detents have been entirely satisfactory.